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5 min
31/12/2025
Barbecuterie boards are a combination of your favourite barbecue flavours — smoky, flavourful meats, tangy, spicy barbecue sauces, and tasty side dishes — presented in the style of a classic charcuterie board. The bold yet messy presentation of these boards makes them eye-catching, shareable and a great way to create memorable food moments on Instagram.
Barbecuterie boards take the traditional concept of barbecued meat and add an interactive, visually beautiful, shareable twist to it. This approach turns the experience of cooking juicy, tender smoked meat into an interactive dining experience through its presentational style of grazing boards. While barbecuterie boards maintain the familiar flavour of smoked meats, they present them using a contemporary approach to entertaining — i.e., using attractive arrangements of various types of barbequed meat, a smattering of side dishes, brightened by colourful sauces, and embellished with garnishes to lend an air of casual elegance suitable for a large group environment. Barbecuterie boards offer people a unique way to gather around a table and enjoy each other's company.
The increase in popularity of barbecuterie boards is at the confluence of home-cooked food, entertainment and flaunting it online. Barbecue is traditionally served as a form of sociality in groups, as people gather to share in the slow cooking process and eat the food together. However, charcuterie boards have been designed with an eye toward aesthetic appeal (or "art"). They typically include clean line work, creativity in texture, and balanced colour. When you put them both together, you get something familiar to us, yet completely new—we have a board that is full of foods that are rich, delicious, smoky and beautiful; and when served like this, it can take on a more informal presentation.
It is no wonder that the explosion of this trend likely began in barbecue restaurants/food trucks and pit masters' yards, which have always had such photogenic set-ups (for example, smoking meat on butcher paper, staggering dishes on top of one another, etc.). Social media simply translated that look into a more board-shaped visual representation—i.e., it looked more curated while still being rustic. And believe me, it has worked out: the look of barbecue is even better when food is piled together tightly; the pinks from the smoke rings; the golden glazes; and the charred edges of meat all crying out to have their close-up taken.
What draws people to barbecuterie boards is the way they look, which is both fun and indulgent. Unlike a traditional charcuterie board with its delicate presentation, the appearance of a barbecuterie board is messy and inviting at the same time, so it encourages people to eat with their hands while having a pile of napkins nearby for mess management. The variety of items on offer also means everyone has something they will be able to eat. For example, meat lovers will have ribs, for carb lovers they will have cornbread and buns, and for sauce lovers they will have several different options to choose from.
Barbecuterie boards have also gained popularity because they create a sense of abundance through their bold textures. Instead of the polite presentation of cheese and crackers typically found on charcuterie boards, you now have piled high stacks of wings, glistening sausages, tangy pickles, smoky vegetables, and a plethora of dips. Consumers love the "bigger is better" philosophy, which creates both high-impact visuals that can easily grab attention online.
Lastly, making a barbecuterie board is easy, meaning anyone who can grill (or order) could make one. For experienced barbecue creators, the glazing, sizzling, and steaming are perfect for creating eye-catching visuals on camera, but the look of a barbecuterie board is half of its appeal.
You can use a variety of materials, such as wood, metal, and glass, but make sure that whatever material you choose is flat so that there is enough vertical space underneath to allow for the barbecued meats to be arranged in a manner that is suitable for a barbecued meat presentation.
In creating your barbecued meat board, the first step is to create an anchor for your barbecued meats by arranging them on the board. Some suggestions for your anchor meats are ribs, wings, kabobs, brisket slices and/or pulled pork.
The next step is to fill in the negative spaces (i.e., space around the meat products) by adding carbohydrates. When choosing carbohydrates to include in your barbecue board, opt for items that are light in weight. Examples of lighter options include: soft dinner rolls; brioche buns, cornbread wedges; herb-flavoured flatbreads; or grilled naans (for an Indian twist).
After filling in the negative spaces on your barbecued meat board, you can add a variety of sauces and condiments, which will provide your barbecued meat presentation with additional pops of colour and texture: these include: barbecue sauces (various types); chipotle olive oil; garlic butter; hot honey; and chimichurri.
Lastly, your barbecued meat board should also include sides. Some examples of sides are: coleslaw, pickled vegetables, charred vegetables, corn ribs, potato salad, or macaroni and cheese cups. Adding sides to your barbecued meat presentation will help create and balance a variety of textures, which is important to avoid creating a board presentation that feels too heavy.
After adding sides, you may want to add additional bright elements to the presentation; these may include: lemon wedges, fresh herbs, or roasted red peppers. All of these bright elements create an added visual element and provide some contrast to what would otherwise be a monotonous-looking board.
The most interesting part about “Barbecuterie” boards that makes them so popular on sites like Instagram, Facebook and TikTok is the fact that they are “show and don’t tell.”
There is a hybrid creativity aspect to the Barbecuterie board, too, and people love that. It’s about taking something traditional, putting a twist on it and making it your own. Food creators get engagement from Barbecuterie boards that have a personal touch to them; whether it's a layout inspired by Korean BBQ, ribs that are spiced with Indian biryani seasonings or a seafood barbecue version, the possibilities are endless.
Another great thing about Barbecuterie boards? They feel accessible. They aren't about having perfect symmetry or elegant ingredients; they're simply about enjoying the outdoors, sharing meals with friends and creating memorable experiences with what might otherwise be a simple meal.
Because of their stunning, colourful aesthetics, visually appealing dishes such as Barbecuterie boards have quickly increased the amount of interaction created through short videos and close-ups of these foods on social media platforms.
Unlike an Instagram-style cheese board that is extremely stylised and contrived, the unkempt, unrestricted nature of a Barbecuterie board represents a big change in how we consume food content vs. what we have previously experienced.
